Who is good with horses ?

[MissMouse]

http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/06-Aug-2001/horsesmal1.jpg
What do you think? He is one of those horses that is black and redish brown. I am confused on what color to get the redish color. This will be a gift to my good friend it is her horse. He was adopted by her as he was being abused, I just don't know how people can do stuff like that to animals. I don't know anything about horses, did you guess!

He is done in my sketch book and is about 8 by 10.
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Community/images/06-Aug-2001/horse2small.jpg

He does look dead, and too skinny. The tounge was just for me as a sort of challange. I am going to do this picture for Linda on fawn colored stonehinge paper. Can you believe the nasty people who had him burned him. Merk is just so sweet.

[ironhorse]

Humm. I'm not trying to be mean but right now he looks a little dead. Is there anyway you can show us the referance photo your working from? The over all structre of the head is good, but looks a bit too long and skinny, but that may be how he looks if he's still under fed?.
As for colour. It sounds like he's a bay: red brown body with black mane, tail and lower legs.
There is usally no one clolur that will be right so I use a bunch and layer the colour. Here are some that I've used in the past:
Faber Castell Polychromos: Cinnamon, Rotel, Brunt Ochre & Indian Red.
Prismacolour: 558 brown
I don't have too may Prisma so there may be other colours in that brand that will work too.
Twyla

[TeAnne]

I like his head too, is that his tongue sticking out?
If you have a look at Michaels Mikey that I did, might help, I used vermillian red, burnt umber and 2 light browns, then the red and burnt umber again. Try the reds oranges and the browns on a patch of paper and see what you come up with. :)

[pencils4me]

Ahhh what a sweet face! I'm glad your friend has him now. Lovely soft eyes.

Some of your distortion might be from seeing the angle/distortion in the photo. Are you only using 1 ref. pic.?

Try another sketch maybe in just pencil to check the length of his head compared to the other points of his face, length of ears, eyes nostrils etc. Also I believe his cheeks and jaw line need to be bigger, again you can't tell from the ref photo.

Pay close attention to the folds/ wrinkles around his eyes - don't forget the lids & lashes. The highlights in the eyes are very important - they give him life and sparkle.

Yes looks like he is either a dark bay or a seal brown... hmmm are you using prismacolors??? I also layer many many colors, I will have to get back to you on which ones if you want. I use prismacolors.

Highlights - he is very dark and is reflecting alot of blues - try not to apply colors to the highlight areas as they can be hard to lift later - or put them in as you go but you have to have them there.

Not sure that helped.... can we start with a new sketch?

TJ

[Ivyleaf]

What a sweetie! Afraid I haven't attempted this color combination yet, but I agree and do see a lot of blue in with the black, as well as the white highlights against the gray for the bridle/harness that he's wearing.

Wish I could be more help!

[Shirl]

TJ - I hope you post the color combination for this horse. I've tried tonight on my own project and I'm not hitting it at all. Seems I've tried so many ocres and browns and get nuthin but a mess.

What a beautiful eye he has.

Shirl

[MissMouse]

Thank you everyone you have been a great help. I have started a new sketch on fawn colored paper.

Please post the colors you use for the black.

[arlene]

One suggestion Pam, I'd make my strokes a bit shorter and follow the direction the body hair grows. Also, lots of light layers will build up color better, and if you layer other colors underneath, when you view the horse the colors underneath will give a "glow"

[miek37]

I vote for starting with light colors first and working up to the darks, mixing the blacks is pretty much the way to go, try the Indigo blue, Tuscan red and dark green, experiment with different sequences to get the best black you can, you'll be surprised the differences, also more of one and less of the other gives different results, see why we are all addicted to this medium????????? Ain't it fun???
Keep posting progressive work -

Helen:cat:

[Shirl]

Helen,

I just tried the Tuscan Red and Indigo Blue for black, instructions for a black cat I got from a beginner's book. I got a black cherry horse. Got frustrated and lightly went over with black--and of course I got a muddy brown! This is aggravating.:crying:

Shirl

[MissMouse]

I have been looking for a black grape prismacolor, that might be a good one to try. A song keeps going thru my mind...

A horse is a horse is a horse of coarse ta da ta da ta da....unless you try to do him in colored pencil than he is a horse
of many colors....

[pencils4me]

oops! like miek37 i also work from lights to darks. And arlene is right the shorter strokes work best.

Sorry Miss Mouse i just got time to read this thread again! You guys have been busy! I did see where you finished this beauty in watercolor. He is lovely. I'm glad you are going to explore your cp some more and give him another "go"!

Shirl - let me see..... thats like sharing an old family recipe! ;) I'm not sure I can tell you what colors to use - I don't keep track!! Give me a little bit and I'll get back to you - where is Roan when you need her she always seemed to have the technical answers!

:D

TJ

Miss Mouse.......thanks for the tune stuck in my head! Oh! I just thought of a celebrity portrait for the community projects Hee Hee :D

[miek37]

OOO!!!Miss Mouse - it certainly can be hair tearing when you can't get the black you want. I hope you are trying out lots of samples on a scrap of the paper you are using for your picture, this saves alot of exasperation!!!!!! You mentioned you just used the Tuscan red and the Indigo blue, you also need to use a dark green like 908 Dark Green or 909 Grass Green. Experiment first, but try not to use black straight from the pencil, it is a very maddening color.

I "do" black bears in my miniature drawings that I sell, and believe me, I tried everything with black pencils, but I love the mix the three above colors give me and when I go back and hit them with white for highlights there is a whole lot of life in them, unlike the dead gray I would get using the black pencil.
Good luck, don't give up I'll bet once you work through this problem it will be one of your best paintings!!!!!

"Remember, you don't fail, you just get wiser!!!"

Helen :clap: :cat: